As an example of prior art, a case where a roof molding is attached to a roof panel of an automobile employing a molding attaching clip will be described.
As shown in FIG. 9A, a roof panel 110 of an automobile is formed by connecting a side edge portion of a side panel 113 to a side edge portion of a center panel 111 by welding or so. A concave groove 115 which is concaved downwardly is formed in a connected portion between the panels.
Also, a roof molding 120 has a head portion 121 for covering the groove 115, a protruded portion 122 which is protruded from a back face of the head portion 121 into the groove 115, and a pair of right and left (right and left in a lateral direction of the roof molding) locking portions 124 which are provided on both side faces of the protruded portion 122.
Further, a molding attaching clip 130 has a fixed portion 131 in a substantially plate-like shape, and a pair of right and left wall portions 132 which are elastically deformable and provided so as to be erected from both right and left side portions of the fixed portion 131 (both right and left side portions of the concave groove in a lateral direction), and a pair of right and left engaging portions 133 which are provided on opposed faces of the pair of wall portions 132 at their upper ends. By attaching the fixed portion 131 to a bottom face of the groove 115 of the roof panel 110 by bonding means 140 in advance, the molding attaching clip 130 is attached in the groove 115 of the roof panel 110.
When the above described roof molding 120 is attached to the roof panel 110, the roof molding 120 is inserted into the groove 115 of the roof panel 110 from a state as shown by a two-dot chain line 120 in FIG. 9A. On this occasion, both the locking portions 124 of the roof molding 120 are butted on both the engaging portions 133 of the molding attaching clip 130 (See a solid line 120 in FIG. 9A). As the roof molding 120 is inserted into the groove 115 from this state, both the engaging portions 133 are pressed by both the locking portions 124 so as to spread outwardly, whereby both the wall portions 132 of the molding attaching clip 130 are elastically deformed in a spreading direction (See FIG. 9B). Then, as both the locking portions 124 pass by both the engaging portions 133, both the wall portions 132 are elastically restored, whereby the engaging portions 133 engages with the locking portions 124 (See FIG. 9C). In this manner, the roof molding 120 is attached to the roof panel 110.
Incidentally, a molding attaching structure similar to the above described structure is disclosed, for example, in JP-A-8-40152.